This is one of my all time favorite car shapes for a mass produced affordable car : The Mazda Mx-3.
That shape...it's like looking at a beautiful woman.
What boggles my mind though, is that this car has the same drag figure ( Cd ) as the first generation CRX.
Just look at the 'boxy' proportions of of the CRX design, and compare them to the sleek MX-3. Both cars have an identical Cd, with the CRX actually being
more aerodynamic, due to a smaller cross section ( frontal area )
The MX-3 has an overall more rounded front end, more curved glass, beautiful 'tumblehome' to the rear, yet something keeps this from improving on things.
I've seen this explained as one car having better aerodynamic 'optimization'.
Can you all explain this better ?
How can some cars have all the aero tricks, yet still have a poor Cd ?
Just look at this car here, the 1948 Panhard Dynavia :
From the top, this car is a perfect teardrop, yet has the same same Cd as the boxy Prius :
How is it that on some car designs, you can add a huge airdam and boattail, full wheel covers, and all the other tricks, yet end up with the same Cd as a vehicle with only a grille plug and a simple spoiler ?
When I do an overlay of some cars that have exceptional aerodynamics onto one with poor aero, sometimes the one with poor aero seems to be nearly identical.